Research
Decide What You'll Trust Before You're Standing In Front Of A Client Who's Read Something You Haven't
From the FASTER syllabus: this article is taught in full in Movement Trainer (AFT) — where the full evidence-filtering method is taught →
In short: Movement Trainer teaches trainers to fix a consistent standard for what counts as evidence, rather than chasing whatever the best available study happens to be each time a question comes up. The course's own checklist: peer-reviewed only, systematic reviews and meta-analyses ranked above single studies, sample size and study design checked, conflicts of interest checked, and results looked for across more than one study. That bar gets set once, before a client ever asks a question, not invented on the spot. It also means a trainer doesn't need to research everything, every time — the course's own example is having the general research on triggering hypertrophy on file without needing a fresh study for every exercise and every muscle, unless a specific client's goal makes that specific answer worth having. The point isn't ranking every source as good or bad, it's a personal library where everything gets kept, and a fixed filter that decides what gets used when a decision actually has to be made.
The question this answers
Not "is this study good enough," but "what did I decide counted as good enough, before today." Movement Trainer teaches a fixed set of criteria for judging evidence, set once and applied the same way every time, rather than a fresh judgement call made under pressure with a client standing there.
The trap in "find the best available evidence"
That phrase sounds responsible, and it's the one the course actually warns against. Chasing the best available evidence each time means the bar moves: a well-designed study on Monday, a personal testimonial on Tuesday because it was what turned up first. One of the things you learn on Movement Trainer is that the goal isn't finding the single best thing available in the moment, it's staying consistent about what you'll accept, so a decision made in September holds up the same way one made in March does.
The course's own checklist
Five things, applied the same way to everything a trainer reads: only studies published in peer-reviewed journals, systematic reviews and meta-analyses ranked above single studies, the sample size and study design checked, conflicts of interest checked, and results looked for across more than one study rather than trusted off the back of one.
That bar is set once, before a client ever asks a question that needs it.
What this doesn't mean
It doesn't mean a trainer researches everything, every time, before every session. The course is specific: you don't need a fresh study on every exercise for every muscle. What you need is the general research on the thing that actually matters to this client's goal, and the course's own example is exact about where the line moves — general hypertrophy research is worth having on file, but a client whose goal depends on the posterior deltoid fatiguing first in a specific movement is a client worth going one level deeper for.
A personal library, not a rejection list
Nothing gets thrown away in this system. Every level of evidence, from a single testimonial to a systematic review, goes into a trainer's own library, kept rather than dismissed. The filtering happens later, at the point a decision actually has to be made for a client, using the bar that was already set. It's a different discipline to memorising papers for an exam and hoping something useful stuck: build the library as you go, and know your own rule for what you'll stand behind when it counts.
What to do next
Movement Trainer (AFT), £375, teaches this alongside the anatomy, the coaching delivery and the programming skills that make up "HMAC eyes." It's taught in the browser the same way the rest of the course is: read it, watch it, answer by writing or by dictating the answer back, whichever fits the hour you have. PT Manager's exercise generator runs on the same filtering idea inside the software, 1,392 filmed movements sorted by what they actually do rather than by name, and it opens free the moment a trainer signs up with any FASTER course.
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You just read one answer. The course is all of them.
Movement Trainer (AFT) — where the full evidence-filtering method is taught — taught by the people who wrote it, with free return access for life. The price is on the page, payment plans at checkout, no sales calls.
Also worth a look: PT Manager's exercise generator, free with any FASTER course.
See what the course covers →Frequently asked
Does this mean ignoring weaker evidence, like a testimonial or a single study?
No, nothing gets thrown out. Everything goes into the library. What changes is which level of evidence a trainer is willing to act on when a client is actually waiting on a decision.
How much research does a trainer need to do before every session?
Not everything, every time. The course's own example is keeping the general research on something like hypertrophy on file rather than a fresh study for every exercise, and going deeper only when a specific client's goal makes that specific answer worth having.
Does finishing the course get me PT Manager?
Yes. PT Manager opens the moment you sign up with FASTER, and adding real clients unlocks once you pass a course.
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